i've also worked with the homeless veterans in the street of san francisco. [speaker not understood] just got here a year, he was faking. i knew people on the street. for me i see myself speaking for the voiceless veterans. there are veterans here that need help and [speaker not understood] shocking warriors, i call them. from grenada to vietnam to -- on and on and on, all veterans -- [speaker not understood]. we guys go to war, come back and we kind of dismiss them. for me, i was drafted. i was pissed, but i went. a lot of veterans need help. for me, currently i'm covering a project in the jail. [speaker not understood] for the last couple of years. and here in the city we're talking about starting a

veterans court which is something i think is well overdue, at least veterans in san francisco. so they can get a fair shake in court. things are happening due to the military service. thank you. >> thank you. thank you. >> i have a question. >> you have a question? sorry. supervisor cohen? >> just for the public, sir, please come back. this is a first committee meeting. supervisor yee is new in this chairmanship so we're still working out the kinks over here. can you tell us a little slack here. see, mr. gibbs, how are you? i'm good. >> good, thank you for your service as well. can you tell me how long you served on the commission? prior? probably 15 years. >> you served on the veteran affairs commission. what capacity were you serving? as president for two years, otherwise i was commissioner. >> um-hm. and what were the circumstances

that lead you to leave the commission? you said -- i moved to europe. >> okay. yeah. >> and you came back and you're looking to volunteer some more time, right? yeah, yeah. i thought it's a position i could be in, have a voice in, yes. >> 15 years is a long time. that's very impressive. can you point to some successes or some of the things or projects that you worked on while you were on the commission? for me, successes right now, i think the commission is strong right now than it's ever been. in terms of personal suck is hetionvxes, i can't speak of any. >> come on, you were president. you did something. i'm telling you the truth. for me as president in terms of what i was doing at that time, one time i was commission president, we had the bali ship

iowa. it didn't quite go through, but that was one of the things that was under my watch. >> okay, fair enough, fair enough. thank you very much. >> thank you. thank you. >> is mary tramil here? good afternoon, commissioners. good afternoon, commissioner breed. i worked in your district for 10 years at the old hill hutch community center under lefty gordon, deceased now. and good afternoon, commissioner cohen. i live in your district, live right up there on the hill in bayview hunters point. i am a former leather neck myself, and i have two issues that i'd like to raise. the first one is i think that san francisco, the entire united states can do more for veterans. and one good example i saw of

that was wal-mart saying that they would hire any veterans that come out of the service now and that's the best thing i've heard in the 33 years that i've been out of the marine corps. but i'd like to see employment programs, particularly those that are funded by the city to do more in terms of hiring veterans, and not just your recent veterans from iraq and afghanistan. but veterans period because when i came here in 1981, i was a homeless veteran for a short period of time. but i did get a chance to go to work. and i feel as though since i served the military active duty, honorably discharged, i shouldn't have to go [speaker not understood]. i should have been able to get work through an employment program. whether it be private, and

particularly if it's a public funded program such as city build and [speaker not understood]. my other issue is that if you work for the city and you did not join the service in san francisco, you cannot take advantage of the city contracting you for your active duty military years. well, i served and fought right along with san francisco marines and i would like to see that changed. i'm probably the only veteran in the city to say that, but i'm saying that because it not only serves up the veteran right that served on active duty, but it also helps the city by moving people along. i served active duty for three years. that would move me out of the system. and i'd like to move along and retire so that i can devote

more time to helping veterans because i can see where there's a lot of need and a lot of areas where veterans can be helped, particularly in the areas of employment. when i was at the community center, i put a lot of people to work in construction and i privately made veterans a priority when i was putting them in the construction apprenticeship programs because i remembered myself being homeless. so, i said -- when i would look at the he application, i said, okay, this person is a veteran. so, i'm going to just make them a priority for the next apprenticeship opportunity that i have. and that's what i would do privately with veterans. it wasn't written into our contract with the redevelopment agency to do that, but that's just something that i took upon myself to do because i've walked in the shoes of a homeless veteran and an unemployed veteran before. so, going back to the second issue here, i have three years of active duty and san francisco retirement board will not pick you up unless you join

from san francisco or you are waiting on an city employment list. those are the two conditions. so, i'd like again, here, i'm not going to repeat myself, i would like to see that change so you can move these people on off the list and they can do other things. like myself, for example, i'm a homeowner here so i have no intentions of leaving once i retire. but i would like to devote more time to helping veterans and that is one of the things that i could do upon retirement. thank you. >> supervisor cohen. >> thank you. thank you, ms. tramil. thank you. i appreciate you having at least two issues you're interested in working on, important for us to hear a vision. i am curious to know if there is anything that you could add to your statement as to how you

heard about this vacancy and why you're applying. i was here, i think it was october, and i gave a very similar testimony. and i don't remember, someone told me about it and said, you should go down and apply. we were talking last year sometime. and i was here in november when you had a meeting here then. i'm sorry, your second question? >> the second question is -- what more could i do to help veterans? well, when i was at [speaker not understood] community center and putting people to work in the construction apprenticeship program, i would work a lot with the state division apprenticeship standards which monitors what apprenticeship programs do in the state of california. one of the things they told me was they said why don't you just focus on the construction trades when there's over 400 apprenticeship programs in the state of california that's been

approved and bonded by the state division of apprenticeship standards. i'm like my own boss. i have bosses who tell me specifically a exactly what they want to do. but that information, that news, that knowledge came from some of the consultants at the division of credit standards. over 400 apprenticeship programs in the state of california. what i would like to focus on or is he see someone focus on is putting develop razzctionv to work in some of those apprenticeship programs. and he informed me that construction was just one of the categories of the 400 programs. so, that is something that was told to me 20 years ago and it has stuck with me. and i don't know that anybody is approaching those other 400 apprenticeship programs, but it's a great job with the construction apprenticeship program. >> we have quite an audience, in our audience we have many leader in our labor community.

you have mike [speaker not understood]. [multiple voices] >> we've got many folks here so i'm sure your words have not fallen on deaf ears. my one and final question is how if in any way at all are you involved with the vet vans community here in san francisco or the greater bay area? i just joined the veterans organization in november. they meet tuesday of each month, i can't think of their name. they're in the war memorial building. >> um-hm. and i'm really just learning about them. they seem to be a big -- it's a big group. i've met over there twice. and from what i'm hearing, it's like an advocacy group, you know. it's like they go out and they march, you know, and they petition, show up for the board of supervisors. >> the folk that are applying -- just want to make sure you all know. i was over there twice. this is why i'm not too familiar with all that they do,

but they're a fiery group of people that fight for veterans causes. and that's the only thing. i'm also a member of the memorial organization that the other gentleman spoke to, but that's more or less just having fun at events. but the -- to get to the core of your question, it's that group that i have joined. i am somewhat reluctant because i don't know how much participation i'm going to do with it. i still work for the city. i work for the contract monitor division certification unit. we certify small businesses. so, i'm not too sure how much that has with veterans. but again here, when you are employed with somebody else, you don't call the shots. you do what you're told to do. so, i would imagine some of these small businesses might be veterans. but that's not the area that i'm particularly interested in in terms of helping veterans. what i want to see done is some of those 400 apprenticeship

programs [speaker not understood] construction apprenticeship programs be open to veterans. >> all right, thank you very much. >> thank you. mikel matto, are you here? is there a leo madrid here? is there a dottie guy here? good afternoon. good afternoon, supervisors. i have to apologize. i'm not feeling very well. the first time i got out of bed was to come here to speak. i am currently on the san francisco vet van affairs commission. my seat just expired. i have a chance to betionctiontion back on the commission. i feel that we timely found our stride and we're doing really good things for the veterans of san francisco. i've just been appointed chair of the women's committee and also i feel that i can do a lot more for the commission.

i'm an iraq war veteran. i was deployed on september 11 for homeland security. i've been a resident of san francisco for almost six years. i've been on the veteran affairs commission since november of 2010 and i really feel i still have more work to do. >> okay, thank you. any questions? supervisor cohen. >> of course i have questions. i have a couple of them. dottie, thank you again to everyone for your service. since 2010, can you point to some accomplishments that you have under your belt since you have been on the board or the commission for almost 3 years now? i actually successfully zoning administratorerthed meeting with the women's committee to highlight issues that are important to women veterans in san francisco. i've actually done national campaigns for women veterans for equal rights.

i work for the va now. i work at the oakland vet center and a lot of thing we're working on there have a lot to do with what we're doing in san francisco. but i really feel like there's more that can be done and more that i have to do. >> more such as what? well, as of right now, the combat section, more women are going to be in combat positions. i feel we need to have a safe space to accommodate them when our vets return to san francisco. >> okay, thank you. >> okay, thank you. so, for this item we are considering two seats. ms. guy is asking for seat 12 to be reappointed. she's the only one that's applied for seat 12. the remainder of the speakers and people that applied are applying for seat 2. so, any thoughts? before i do that, is there any

public comment? you have two minutes to make a statement. good afternoon, rules committee. i hope eula ford two minutes for each of the two candidates or each of the two seats. they are two separate entities. * you'll afford my name is stephen [speaker not understood] >> excuse me. you have two minutes to speak, this is one item. >> two minute for all of them, yes. okay. i am stephen [speaker not understood], i'm the secretary of the veteran affairs commission. i'm here to speak today in advocacy for george gibbs, our former commissioner. he's only been out of the commission for a couple of months, would have been reappointed to his original seat but for a glitch in the paperwork handling. and another person was appointed. so, we really need him back on the commission.

he's the salt of the earth. he can work with one of our new commissioners, michael mafay who works for the city, who works for the prosecutor's office and we are in a major initiative now to advocate for the establishment of a veterans court in the city of san francisco. george gibbs will provide the most effective testimony due to his work for many, many years with incarcerated veterans and what their special problems are as well as homeless veterans. he left his right arm on the battle field in vietnam, but he didn't leave his dignity and he didn't leave his heroism there. he has shown that over many years of working with homeless veterans where a lot of people don't take that opportunity to do that. he's worked in the east bay, and events every time they have them, which is a three-day

event that helps veterans with all kinds of hands-on help like dental and so on. and also dorothy guy, we need her back on the commission as well. we have other qualified candidates that have spoken. i see that, but we do need our two commissioners that have recently been on the commission back to complete their work. thank you for your consideration. >> thank you. supervisors, michael [speaker not understood], building and construction trades council. i did not know when i walked into the room mary tramil was applying for a commission today. she did not ask me to speak, but with her permission i'm going to sing her praises. i've known mary for a lot of years. i was an organizer. mary has always been intensely pragmatic, effective, and i think she's probably responsible for hundreds at least of members of san francisco communities making their way into our trades.

mary has always been persistent. she has always been willing to work through the nitty-gritty of entry into our trades. she's always taken the trouble to come to understand us and how we worked, which is not something i can say for everybody. and i've appreciated mary intensely over the years. thank you. >> thank you. so, i would like -- supervisor cohen? >> i want to say a couple comments before we call the vote. for those who don't know me, my name is malia. i'm the daughter of a veteran, my father served in vietnam, he was wounded and earned a purple heart. and through being the daughter of a veteran that i really have come to have a very, very special place in my heart for the men and women that serve our country and i'm forever grateful for your dedication to our country. and one of the things, there are a couple of things i was

listening for when i'm listening to the candidates and make their petition as to why we should support them, one, i'm looking for a vision and a direction that the veteran affairs commission should be going in. i think that the commission is an excellent venue and can and should take their game to another level. and we're at a precarious place in this country where we've fought enough wars that we have more veterans coming back into the community and more of them are -- more and more are needing more than just a check, a job, needing support around posttraumatic stress disorder, mental health, reunification with family members. some people are dealing with substance abuse. very complicated issues that many of our veterans are dealing with and i'm looking always for ways to continue to support veterans, whether through cathay posts, through through the art commission, or any other auxiliary organizations that do exist. the other thing i'm looking for is people when it comes to

leadership and service, you don't need a title to be a commissioner to do it. you pick up, you see something needs to be done and you do it, right? so, much like before i was running for office, i was actively involved in the community. they always say if you do something when no one is looking, if you'll do it when no one is willing to pay you, you're doing it from a place of love. that's what i'm looking for, so see if you've had a commitment already established to the san francisco haunted, veterans community or to the larger, to the larger bay area, something larger than just -- something, an extension of your military service. and for those that have -- who have served in the capacity on the commission, the next thing i'm asking, what did you do, right? how, how has the san francisco veteran's committee been able to benefit from your service? so, i just wanted to give an indication of the criteria that i was using to try to help me figure out how i would vote.

it is very helpful that other people didn't show up and that makes a decision a little easier. you don't have the time to show up, okay. so, that's it for me, mr. chair. i'd like to turn it over back to you. >> before any of us make a statement, i forgot to close public comment. so, public comment is closed. again, we're faced with a tough decision today. we have the three speakers that have come before us today for seat number 2, are well qualified. all three of them articulated a lot of passion for wanting to be on the commission. so, unfortunately only one of you will be nominated. and i really encourage you to, if you are not run of them --

that person, to reapply. this commission has many seats that have a turn over. so, an opportunity will be there in the future. supervisors, are there -- i'd like to entertain some motion. would you want to have discussion? we're making two, one of them for seat 12 and there is only one applicant for seat 12, which is dottie guy. >> yes, i'd like to make a motion to support dottie guy for seat number 12. >> and because this is -- it would be one motion, have a motion for the other seat, too. >> okay. so, there's a motion on the floor now. it's been seconded, it's been already second. >> let me get better understanding. this is one item. can we make two motions out of this? >> deputy city attorney john givener. you can do it either way.

you can take them all and nominate for 12 and 2 in a single motion or you can vote on a motion for number 12 and then make another motion on number 2. >> thank you for the clarification. so, there's been a motion and a second and i guess -- without the objection, we'll take this one, accept this motion. so, i need a motion to -- for seat number 2. >> okay. all right, i'd like to make a motion for ms. mary tramil for seat number 2. >> is there a second? >> second. >> okay. without any objection, we'll move this forward. thank you. >> with a unanimous vote, right? >> right. that's what i mean. >> thank you. congratulations.

>> madam clerk, can you please call item number 4? >> item number 4, hearing to consider appointing four members, terms ending january 31, 2015, to the golden gate bridge, highway and transportation district. there are four seats and four applicants. >> so, is mr. grosboll here? please come on up. thank you. my name is richard grosboll. i have served on the bridgeport since august of 2006. it's been a good experience. we've accomplished a lot in the last 6-1/2 years, but we still have quite a bit to do.

one of the most important issues out there has been the suicide barrier which was approved, suicide net. that's something i'm very interested and hoping to it be continue moving that forward. we also have a median barrier that is approved. we're monitoring that and making sure it moves forward on timetable. we have the ongoing seismic retrofit workout at the bridge which, of course, is very important. and we're always dealing with issues such as pedestrian access. we still allow pedestrians to walk free on the bridge and that is important to many of us and we also, of course, have many, many more bicyclists using it. and of course we have an excellent ferry system and bus system. so, we have a lot of work to do out there with improving transit. we've been able to do that even though we've had some serious financial issues over the last years -- last few years, but i'm optimistic we can continue to do so. so, we do have an excellent staff out there, great group of workers in all the trades. the bus drivers and so forth, and i'm proud to be able to work with them.

so, thank you. >> thank you. any questions? okay, thank you. hello again, supervisors. when i got here, as i did when i was a boy on muni and sat in the back of the bus, a few folks from the trades and unions including professional technical engineers [speaker not understood], i'll ask them to stand so i can acknowledge their presence. [speaker -- electiontritions can stand, too, and the plumbers. i have appreciated the two years the board has given me so far on the board of directors of the golden gate highway and transportation district. * it has been at the same time a

frustrating and a delightful experience. frustrating in some of the context mr. grosboll discussed. i think it must have been about 2005 when the district council of iron workers gave me a check for $5,000 to help finance the feasibility study for the suicide barrier. and that study, of course, was essential because as i always tell folks, suspension bridge is almost like a living thing. it's always in motion and you have to understand what the effect of adding something to it is going to do on that motion to know if it's possible to add something to it without damaging the bridge itself. the feasibility study said that was possible. and then, of course, became possible for us to say, yes, let's go forward with the suicide barrier. but that in itself has taken an awfully long time. it has to undergo design. the design has to be -- financing for the design has to come up with. if there are approvals from state agencies, so, those have

to be obtained. and then funding for the project itself has to be found. so, we had the heart rending experience of a mother from a samoan family in the southeast of the city come before us this last year. her son -- she didn't know where her son was, and she believed her son had jumped. it ultimately turned out that he had. i would rather we never had to go through that again. i would rather we found a way to move this suicide barrier along more quickly. and everything in my power, i will do to help that happen. the district itself made a very good move with the help of our politicians in washington by getting a small change in language in recent transportation funding bill that actually allowed for the district then to apply for federal funding for -- to assist in building the suicide barrier. likewise, the k-rail, the

movable k-rail has gone -- has taken a lot longer to achieve than one would hope to cut down on the accidents in the middle of the bridge there. and in a way, the very position i've asked myself to be put in, is a difficult one because i find myself in the very thick of conversations about labor negotiations at the board. but i think at the same time, i've been useful in those conversations. we in the unions have traditions that have been built up over many years coming out both of our need to answer to our members and the structure of our work itself. and it is not always immediately apparent to others what those traditions are and how to work with them and how to understand us when we are speaking to you about things. i think i've managed to help the board at points in negotiations when that sort of complication arose.